Netting is the only really effective solution.

We net individual branches with sleeves of netting on a small tree--better than doing nothing.

Has anyone tried using tin foil strips?

Has anybody ever heard of or tried Bird Scare Flash Tape? Here's an article, http://articles.latimes.com/1991-06-09/realestate/re-806_1_bird-scare-tape

I think I'm with Fruitnut on this one. I've however never netted, but I've tried a lot of other things, including tin foil, and they just get used to it (at least these country birds do...)

But because I do live out, I can blast music from dawn to dusk and that has been fairly effective for me. (That gets old even for me over the course of a cherry harvest...)

I've been tempted to try one of the owls with a moving head, or something that is motion sensitive. But the ol plastic owl that you fill with rocks is a huge waste of $8. That has an impact for maybe a day and then they're onto it.

I only have 5 Cherry trees, but have found netting to be the only solution. I've tried fake owls, bird flash tape, motion sensor scarecrows, but all have failed.

Netting works well, but you must keep the netting suspended from the tree, otherwise the birds will peck through to what they can reach.

A word of caution - plastic bird netting is horrible stuff.. it gets caught on everything. My wife calls it the annual swearing at the netting season.

Good luck

Just returned from Home Depot and purchased two rolls of white netting that is not transparent. It is a little matte but will definitely keep the birds off of my cherries and plums. Each roll is forty by fifteen feet wide and will easily cover four or five trees. It is a knitted white mesh that will not easily tangle, like nasty 'bird X'. The latter is horrible netting. The name of what I am using is called 'Anti-bird knitted netting'. Mrs. G

MrsG47, I was checking Home Depot web site and I can't seem to find that, Would that happen to be an in store only product.

Jimmy, you can find it on ebay too. It is half the price at HD than it is on ebay. It is call Commerical Knitted Anti-Bird Netting. Thats all I can tell you. Works like a charm! Mrs. G

Get one of these.

Found the netting on Ebay but it was AU and UK websites,Guess I will have to go with the BirdX stuff.

I just read an article on what commercial growers do and alot of them are spraying the trees with regular sugar and water mix. The reason is most birds that steal fruit can't digest the sugar and it gives them a belly ache and they leave. I know it sounds crazy but in Washington and out west this is the most effective and cost-effective thing to do when the cherries start to ripen. I'm going to give it a try because I have nothing to lose but some sugar and water.

do you know how much sugar and water to mix together?